Is Pippen the Greatest "Robin" in NBA History?

To be fair, by the time MJ totally left Pippen was old AF

The year MJ retired, Pip still balled:

Michael Jordan retired before the 1993–94 season and in his absence Pippen emerged from Jordan's shadow. That year, he earned All-Star Game MVP honors and led the Bulls in scoring, assists, and blocks, and was second in the NBA in steals per game, averaging 22.0 points, 8.7 rebounds, 5.6 assists, 2.9 steals, and 0.8 blocks per game, while shooting 49.1% from the field and a career-best 32% from the 3-point line. For his efforts, he earned the first of three straight All-NBA First Team selections, and he finished third in MVP voting. The Bulls (with key additions of Toni Kukoč, Steve Kerr and Luc Longley) finished the season with 55 wins, only two fewer than the year before.
Exactly.

Prime Pippen was arguably the second greatest player in the league, but it was impossible to see that while he slayed dragons in Jordan's shadows.
 
How about Rodman. He got the rebounds and passed to Jordan to attack.
 
To be fair, by the time MJ totally left Pippen was old AF

The year MJ retired, Pip still balled:

Michael Jordan retired before the 1993–94 season and in his absence Pippen emerged from Jordan's shadow. That year, he earned All-Star Game MVP honors and led the Bulls in scoring, assists, and blocks, and was second in the NBA in steals per game, averaging 22.0 points, 8.7 rebounds, 5.6 assists, 2.9 steals, and 0.8 blocks per game, while shooting 49.1% from the field and a career-best 32% from the 3-point line. For his efforts, he earned the first of three straight All-NBA First Team selections, and he finished third in MVP voting. The Bulls (with key additions of Toni Kukoč, Steve Kerr and Luc Longley) finished the season with 55 wins, only two fewer than the year before.
Exactly.

Prime Pippen was arguably the second greatest player in the league, but it was impossible to see that while he slayed dragons in Jordan's shadows.

At the time I would say there was Jordan and then a tier of Olajuwon, Pippen, Malone, Barkley, Payton, David Robinson, Ewing, and Reggie Miller. Not necessarily in that order.
 
At the time I would say there was Jordan and then a tier of Olajuwon, Pippen, Malone, Barkley, Payton, David Robinson, Ewing, and Reggie Miller. Not necessarily in that order.

Jordan is not a separate tier. You replace Jordan with Robinson, Olajuwon, prime Barkley, Shaq, maybe a few others and they win the same number of championships. No matter what anyone says, both bull runs had stacked teams.
 
There been some great duos/trios mentioned in this thread but I've always thought of Shaq/Kobe as 2 alphas. Kareem handed the Alpha status to Magic after 84. Pippen and McHale knew who the Alpha was, were ultimate team guys and never tried to usurp the throne. Yeah Scottie has 6 rings but McHale played through the playoffs/finals on a broken foot, ultimate team guy.
 
Exactly.

Prime Pippen was arguably the second greatest player in the league, but it was impossible to see that while he slayed dragons in Jordan's shadows.


Prime Pippen was out of this world. I would have loved to see the rivalry they would have had if they were on different teams. Pippen's defense was incredible as well.

IMO, it would be like LeBitch and KD playing on the same team.
 
Jordan is not a separate tier. You replace Jordan with Robinson, Olajuwon, prime Barkley, Shaq, maybe a few others and they win the same number of championships. No matter what anyone says, both bull runs had stacked teams.

David Robinson would never replace Jordan in his hey day my friend.
 
Jordan was better than anyone but you replace him Robinson and they still win.

Are we talking about hypothetical championships?

Not sure how Pippen/Robinson would have responded or fared against the same Suns or Jazz teams. Honestly it is much more difficult to say when considering in each of those series Jordan caught fire. Phoenix beats most teams in that championship round if not for MJ averaging 41 PPG.
 
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Like Robin modelling his game to complement MJ's game? Yes. The best 1-2 punch is Kareem and Magic.
 
I assume he meant Shaq = Batman, Kobe = Robin. Which is obviously more true than vice versa.

It's actually the opposite to anyone who knows what they're talking about.

Shouldn't be a bother to you since you're clearly not in that category.
 
It's actually the opposite to anyone who knows what they're talking about.

Shouldn't be a bother to you since you're clearly not in that category.

Yeah, except VC, Tmac, Kidd...really any AS level gaurd paired with Shaq and Zenmaster circa early 2000's was going to win multiple rings.
 
Yeah, except VC, Tmac, Kidd...really any AS level gaurd paired with Shaq and Zenmaster circa early 2000's was going to win multiple rings.

Yeah, not really. Good try though (actually not LOL).

You almost seem as if you watched the game back then!
 
Jordan is not a separate tier. You replace Jordan with Robinson, Olajuwon, prime Barkley, Shaq, maybe a few others and they win the same number of championships. No matter what anyone says, both bull runs had stacked teams.

David Robinson would never replace Jordan in his hey day my friend.

The only one who might be in Jordan's tier at his absolute peak was Olajuwon.

I would give pre back injury David Robinson the next best chance.

Only three guys have won MVP, Defensive Player of the year and a scoring title. Jordan, Olajuwon and Robinson.

Shaq needs a clutch shooter down the stretch and Pippen was not that guy.

Barkley would not provide the necessary defense. Just ask Bobby Knight.
 

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